Archive:War of 1812 Pension File, Josiah Whitney
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War of 1812 Pension File, Josiah Whitney
Widow: Almira Whitney
Widow’s Claim #WO13146, Certificate #WC7193
National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
Atificer, Captain Alexander Parris’ Company, U.S. Corps of Artificers
He is identified as Josiah6 Whitney (Josiah5, Josiah4, Josiah3, [prob.] Benjamin2, John1).
Almira Whitney applied for benefits from her husband Josiah Whitney’s War of 1812 pension from Portage Co., Ohio on 21 March 1878. She declares that she is the widow of Josiah Whitney, deceased, who served in the Connecticut Militia. Her husband enlisted at East Windsor, CT in 1813 for a term of three years. He continued in actual service in the war for 18 months, and was honorably discharged.
Almira describes Josiah at the time of his enlistment as being 22 years old, occupation: shoemaker, born in Granville, MA, height (illegible), hair brown, eyes blue, complexion light. She states that she married Josiah Whitney at Rootstown, Portage Co., Ohio on 28 May 1818. They were married by Hiram Roundy, Justice of the Peace. (There is a marriage certificate in the file containing the same information.) She was married under the name Almira Ellsworth, and it was the first marriage for both parties.
Almira states that Josiah Whitney died at Rootstown, Ohio on the 7th day of October 1869, and that Rootstown was their only place of residence after his discharge from the service. There is an affidavit in the file from a neighbor, William S. Whippy, age 63. He testifies that he knows Almira and knew Josiah Whitney, knows of Josiah’s death on 7 Oct 1869, that Almira has not remarried since his death, and that there is a gravestone in Rootstown cemetery that marks Josiah’s grave. Almira still lives in Rootstown.
Almira retained Milo B. Stevens and Co. to prosecute her pension claim, and states that her husband had received two land warrants, one in 1850 and the other in 1855. The petition is witnessed by James W. Seymour and L.E. Whitney
At one time there was an inquiry concerning this pension application. The response to the inquiry is in the file, and provides information from the Survivor’s Brief. The following information was provided:
Dates of service: 19 February 1813 to 31 July 1813, Artificer in Alexander Parris’ Co., US Corps of Artificers. 1 March 1814 to 30 April 1814, in the same company. Josiah Whitney enlisted at East Windsor, CT. Almira applied for a pension 21 March 1878, and the claim was allowed. At that time she resided at Rootstown, and she was 75 years old. The soldier was born about 1791 at Granville, MA. He married May 28, 1818 at Rootstown, Portage Co., Ohio, Almira Ellsworth. He died 7 October 1869 at Rootstown, Ohio, and she died 14 January 1884.
On 29 January 1884, Hon. William W. Dudley, Commissioner of Pensions was notified by the U. S. Pension Agency in Columbus, Ohio that the name of Almira Whitney, widow of Josiah Whitney (War of 1812), who was a pensioner on the rolls of the Agency under Certificate No. 7193, and who was last paid $8.00 to December 4, 1883, has been dropped because of information received by letter from Mary D. Whitney of Rootstown, Ohio dated Jan 25, 1884 stating that pensioner died January 14, 1884.
Copyright © 2006, Kenneth L. Whitney and the Whitney Research Group
